Takeaways & Top Liberos from 18 Open Div at MEQ

The State of Michigan was represented by 4 teams this past weekend in the 18 Open division at the MEQ in Indianapolis. The teams had mixed results but overall it was a good outing for the clubs playing out of Michigan. Legacy 18 Elite had a strong showing as the team made it to the Gold bracket of 4 teams. Finishing 3rd the team was led by Chandler Duff and Hannah Grant both providing solid play all weekend. The team finished the weekend with a 6-3 record earning their third open bid in as many qualifiers. Michigan Elite 18 Mizuno also fared well as they finished 14th overall and 2nd in the Silver division. The offense struggled at times but Molly Asmus and Madison Whitfield helped keep the team on track with their strong blocking. The team finished the tournament with 5-3 record for the weekend. Volleywood Starz 18 Elite competed their way to a 3rd place finish in the Bronze division of 18 Open. The team was undersized at the net but stayed competitive with the help of a strong defense. Adrien Yondo, Kathryn Persons and Madison Gates covered the back row remarkably throughout the tournament. The team finished the tournament with a 2-5 record good for a 21st place finish. Unified 18-1 struggled on the weekend finishing with an 0-7 record but did seem to improve as the weekend went on. Hailey Barden and Illyria Kataj were bright spots for the team. Barden, a very athletic outside hitter let the team on the offensive side and Kataj played a scrappy style of defense for Unified. The team finished the tournament with an 0-7 record for a 47th place finish. <h2>Top liberos</h2> Although Michigan's 18 Open Division teams had mixed results, the liberos all stood out for their respective teams. Hannah Grant (Legacy), Lauryn Gibbs (Michigan Elite), Kathryn Persons (Volleywood Starz) and Illyria Kalaj (Unified) all provided solid serve receive and strong defense for their respective teams. Grant - Legacy 18 Elite earned it’s third bid of the season in large part due to Grant who led the team with solid passing and incredible dig after incredible dig. The Michigan State bound Junior showed all weekend why she will be continuing her career in the Big 10. Gibbs - Michigan Elite had a solid performance on the weekend and the play of Gibbs was a key factor in the success of the team. She was steady on serve receive and took charge of the back row with excellent defense. Gibbs is another future Spartan at Michigan State and will combine with Hannah Grant to help form a solid back row for the Spartans. Persons - Volleywood Starz finished with a 3rd place finish in the bronze bracket led by Persons who provided much-needed ball control for the team. In the second match of the tournament, the team found itself overmatched by a Milwaukee Sting team but still competed into the 3rd set due to the play of Persons. She will be moving her career to the collegiate level and play for Auburn University in the fall. Kalaj - Unified struggled on the weekend but Kalaj proved to be up to the challenge and played well all weekend. Unified did provide a solid block which Kalaj took advantage of and put her self into positions to make scrappy plays on defense throughout the tournament. She will be taking her talents to Western Michigan University next fall to compete for the Broncos.